About Anne Phillips

I think I came out of the womb singing and playing piano. My father was a yarn salesman and my mother a housewife. Much to their wonderment, I could play almost anything I heard on the radio. "Wouldn't it be wonderful if she turned out to be somebody who could play by ear. She'd have so much fun at parties!" said my mother. I wasn't from a NY show biz family. I was from suburban Wyomissing, Pennsylvania.

I didn't really hear any jazz until I was a senior in high school when by a serendipitous meeting I was asked to join a very hip vocal group of grown-up jazz musicians. I knew where I belonged!

I went on to Oberlin where of course I joined the newly formed Jazz Club and we put on the first "Brubeck at Oberlin" concert. I was the "other act" singing with a grad student trio and the big band.

When I was 19, I came to New York. Because I played piano and sang and almost every restaurant and bar had a piano in it I worked six nights a week … six hours a night. Some great gigs: (opposite Bobby Short at the Beverly Hotel, Number One Fifth Avenue,) and a good many dives. But it was a great time to arrive in New York. There were demos for songwriters, TV shows, record dates, concerts, jingles, work for singers!